a mosqUe. According to traditional accounts, it
was first performed by bilal, one of Muhammad’s
companions, after the hiJra to Medina in 622 c.e.
The man who performs the call to prayer is called
a muadhdhin (mUezzin), and he should stand fac-
ing the qibla (toward mecca) when he does so.
Muslims are expected to perform their prayers
when they hear the adhan. Although the call to
prayer may sound melodic, many Muslims object
to it being called musical because of its religious
meaning.
For Sunni Muslims, the following phrases are
chanted (with minor variations in the number of
repetitions):
- Allahu akbar (repeated four times) “God
is great”; - Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah (repeated
twice) “I witness that there is no god but
God”; - Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah
(repeated twice) “I witness that Muham-
mad is the prophet of God”; - Hayya ala s-salah (repeated twice) “Come
to prayer”; - Hayya ala l-falah (repeated twice) “Come
to safety and prosperity”; - Allahu akbar (repeated twice) “God is
great”; - La ilaha illa Allah “There is no god but
God.”
The adhan for the morning prayer adds the follow-
ing after part 5: as-salatu khayrun min an-nawm
(repeated twice) “Prayer is better than sleep.”
For tWelve-imam shiism, the call to prayer can
differ slightly with the addition of ashhadu anna
Aliyan waliyu Allah (“I witness that ali is the
friend of God”) after part 3, and hayya ala khayr
al-amal (“Come to the best of actions,” repeated
twice) after part 5.
Traditionally, the muezzin chanted the adhan
from the mosque minaret, but today he can do
it from the mosque floor using loudspeakers. It
is not unusual in Muslim cities to hear the adhan
coming noisily from several mosques in the same
neighborhood, each chanted in a different style. In
cities where Muslims are a minority, it may have
to be performed quietly or inside the mosque. The
call to prayer is also performed on radio and tele-
vision in Muslim countries, and it can sometimes
be heard on radio stations in the United States.
The adhan may also be chanted softly into the ear
of a newborn child, welcoming her or him into
the wider Muslim community.
See also mUsic; shahada; sUnnism.Further reading: Hammudah Abd al-Ati, Islam in Focus
(Beltsville, Md.: Amana Publications, 1998); Scott L.
Marcus, Music in Egypt: Experiencing Music, Express-
ing Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007);
Likayat A. Takim, “From Bida to Sunna: The Wilaya of
Ali in the Shii Adhan.” Journal of the American Oriental
Society 120 (2000): 166–177.adultery
Sexual intercourse with someone other than one’s
marriage partner is called zina (adultery) in
Arabic. In the sharia zina encompasses not only
adultery but any sexual act among two people
who are not married to each other. Pre-Islamic
Arabian society may have considered zina as one
of several acceptable forms of marriage, but Islam
brought an end to these multiple forms. For men,
the only exception to zina concerns sexual inter-
course with the female slaves under their owner-
ship, which is allowable (although not common
practice today).
Adultery is a grave offense in Islam, as it
undermines the basic foundation of Muslim soci-
etal organization—the legal contract of marriage
by which two partners are bound to each other
exclusively by clearly delimited rights and obliga-
tions. Among these rights and duties is exclusive
sexual access to one’s spouse, so as to prevent pro-
miscuity and social disorder. The qUran includes
numerous references on the subject, most notably
Q 24:2, which pronounces the fixed hadd punish-adultery 13 J